I found this exceptionally eloquent little piece in Stein Communications‘ higher education newsletter, The Scoop. Check it out here: New Marketing Models.

It doesn’t hurt that I wrote it, either…
Here are the first two paragraphs:

No matter how well-endowed a school may be, another finite resource will always be in short supply: time. The energies and attention of an admissions office must be focused for best success. Dynamic web marketing can be very effective. If you are considering using new web technologies to connect with prospective students, there are some things you should know; if you already do, there is still more to learn, for I have never seen an implementation that couldn’t benefit from audience feedback. Read carefully, because I speak for your audience.

The web is not a magical vehicle for marketing. With proper savvy, the internet can be coaxed into performing as a successful higher education marketing tool, but even the most polished of marketing attempts can fall flat if it loses touch with its target market — and what age group is more fickle than teenagers? The modern web offers untold opportunity for creative and effective marketing techniques to be utilized, but with these new tactics can come new abuse. I will cover some of the difficulties that arise when an institution seeks to exploit blogs, podcasts, YouTube, and the rest of Web 2.0 — and what can be done to avoid them. (This piece focuses specifically on blogs.)

Isn’t it just gripping?

Now go read the rest back on The Scoop site: New Marketing Models - Stein Communications’ The Scoop

It’s just more of what I’ve always been saying about honesty in web marketing, but hey: it’s reproduced on a different website this time.